25 Nov Medic Malawi Newsletter November 2018

“Our soft spoken Surgeon” : The following recent story about Dr Amos Nyaka is from the Daily Times of Malawi . You may well recognise Amos’ name – he is my friend and ex-student, now eye surgeon, who makes regular visits to St Andrew’s for our monthly eye surgery programme . This episode did not take place at St Andrew’s, but is typical of his character and expertise.

Surgeon uses cell phone light in theatre operation

Kamuzu
Central Hospital (KCH) surgeon Amos Nyaka swiftly turned to ‘plan B’ when a
power outage plunged an eye theatre into darkness in the middle of a delicate
operation he was performing on a patient in Lilongwe on Thursday.

The surgeon quickly asked a trainee clinical
officer to use his cell phone’s in-built flashlight, enabling him and his team
to continue with the operation.

Many people were both stunned and impressed

When traced to his KCH Eye Department on Friday,
the surgeon said: “The blackout came after we had already started operating on
the patient’s eye, who had a condition known as glaucoma—an irreversible cause
of blindness. The procedure was to minimise the progression of eye damage.

“We had to act fast because, otherwise, the patient
could lose his vision.”

The soft-spoken surgeon said he should not take any
praise alone.

“On a daily basis, many other theatre personnel use
creative ways in overcoming technical challenges to save patients, particularly
in critical departments like the ICU [intensive care unit], HDU [high
dependency unit] and the paediatric sections,” he added.

He said the eye department used to have its own
generator but it developed faults and has not been in use for a while.

In an interview, Ministry of Health spokesperson
Joshua Malango said Nyaka exemplifies the professionalism and passion medical
cadres have to save people’s lives despite challenges in their work.

The eye department is one of the busiest sections
at KCH, with some 200 patients attended to daily. On average, surgeries
constitute about 10 percent of the cases

How typical of ‘our soft spoken surgeon’ not
to ‘take any praise alone’ , and how
typical too of the resourcefulness and quick thinking which our Malawian partners
show, amid great difficulties.

Teaching others

But this is not the only story of Eye Surgery success recently. We have,
with the support of Rotary International, been able to start training and awareness programmes
in local areas.

The intention is that nurses and junior clinicians can be trained in
identifying eye disease, and begin to have training in dealing with it too. Some
may progress to being able to deal with cataracts themselves. The first
training was in Ntchisi . At the same time patients were screened for treatment
and surgery which was followed by surgery
at St Andrew’s last week. Next month the training programme is to be in Dowa, and
again patients will be identified for surgery treatment, but also helped in
many other ways with a variety of eye treatments and assistance.

Training in progress :

The
programme involves training in practical work (above),

and also theoretical preparation of groups (below)

“Thank you to all
who made my eyes to see again”

But above all, the work is for
individuals:

This is from a report by Peter
Minjale at St Andrew’s

“This is Rose Mpamba , wh is 53 years old from
Moto Vilage , Ntchisi district. She had been totally blind from cataract in
both eyes for one year. She could not work. She could not look after herself.
She felt a burden to her children. Her children looked after her.

She can now see totally .

She was one of 32 operations performed in one
day November 15 2018”

Rose Mpamba

The Power of Giving

Thank you
for the power of your giving, which makes all this possible. Thank you also for
your messages of goodwill following my email about the structure and leadership
of Medic Malawi itself. For the time being we continue as we are. You will
receive newsletters from me, and please write to me with any questions or
ideas. But the Trustees will continue to
think about the future, and how best to organise the charity, with your help, to serve the people of Mtunthama District.
Thank you.